How Do Car Donations End up

By Edith Green

So you have made the choice to donate your old car to charity. Once donated, your car can have a number of things happen to it. The charity which you donate it to will decide how to procedure the donation based on the general condition of the vehicle and operating order. Each charity will have different procedures they use to get the most value from your donated car. You can check with the charity you're thinking about to determine what they plan to do with your donation.Regardless of the condition of your donation you will have a little planning to do before donating your car. First, you're responsible for identifying the fair market value of your donation.

In 2005, in the USA, the law changed so now it is up to the vehicle owner to determine what it's worth. The owner should also have written documentation for the appraisal to justify the value when asking for a tax receipt from the charity.If you are interested in claiming the car donation on your taxes you'll need to know if the donation is valued at more than $500 or less. You will need to obtain additional info from the charity if the value of the car is more than $500. You need to determine if the vehicle qualifies as a tax deductible donation. Most vehicles legal for public roads qualify to be tax exempt when donated. Also determine if the charity you are donating to has tax exempt status. Most educational and religious organizations will be tax exempt.

Calling the charity and asking is often the best method to determine this.Now that you have all the pre pick up paper work complete you're able to arrange for your donation to be picked up. Depending where you live this can be handled in a couple of ways. If the charity is near your home and your vehicle operates you can drive it to the local charity and save them the cost of having it removed by a towing company.Again, if the vehicle you donated runs the charity may send a driver to the vehicle location and drive it away. This also saves them the cost of having it towed.Of course if your car doesn't operate the charity will send a tow truck to the location and remove the car. Quite often the charity will send a registered tow truck company over to the location to haul the automobile away. In other cases the charity itself will have their own towing service. Either way you may have to provide the driver with the vehicle title before they haul it away. This will also limit you from any responsibility since you're no longer the registered owner. Talk about this with the charity when you request the pick up.

After your car is hauled away numerous things can happen depending on the condition of the car. If the vehicle is in great shape the charity will have a mechanic inspect the donation and give it a pass if it meets safety criteria. Any car that passes inspection will either be sold at auction with the profits being used to aid their organization. It might also be donated to a family in need that the charity supports. If it fails the inspection the mechanic will provide details of what need fixing. The charity will decide if is worth repairing the vehicle.

Those vehicles that are not road valuable or cost too much to fix will be striped for any useful parts and the remainder will be send to the scrape yard. The parts of the vehicle will be separated and recycled. The steel from the frame and body panels will be sold off as scrap iron. The charity will get the proceeds from the recycling facility less the fee for processing the donation.If you're donating a vehicle that has sentimental value and you do not want it to end up as scrap you can talk with the charity in advance. The vehicle will either need to be in good working order before the charity gets the donation or be cost effective for them to fix it.Donating a car is simple and goes a long way to supporting charities in need. Knowing the steps involved to get rid of your old junker can assist make the process go smoothly.

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1 Response to "How Do Car Donations End up"

Vehicle donation is the easy practice of giving away unwanted vehicles to any of a wide array of charitable organizations. Gifting to charitable organizations is most often always a good thing and by donating a car to charity you can receive a sizable income tax deduction as well. Donation of a vehicle is one of the most unique, yet easy ways to give back to your community. If you have an unused vehicle sitting in your backyard or garage, why not donate it for a good cause?